Field Observations of Factors Influencing Walking Speeds

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Field Observations of Factors Influencing Walking
Speeds

• Kirsten Finnis and Darren Walton
• Opus Central labs
• Email darren.walton_at_opus.co.nz

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Overview

• Why examine pedestrian walking speeds?
• Method
• Results
• Implications

Walking Speed Facts The average walking speed is
approx 80m/min Males walk approx 5m/min
faster Pedestrians over the age of 65 walk about
10m/min slower
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Why examine pedestrian walking speeds?

• Knowing pedestrian time budgets is essential when
  planning the placement of transit facilities
• People adapt their travel behaviour to a travel
  time budget
• The average walking speed is approximately
  80m/min
• Typical person allows 1hour travel per day
  (Marchetti, 1994)
• Typical walker allows
• 10min walk to transit facilities
• 30min walk to destination (Newman Kenworthy,
  2006)
• Preference for highly permeable environment to
  allow direct routes
• Pace of life
• Cities with larger populations typically have
  faster walking speeds (Bornstein Bornstein,
  1976)

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University of Auckland
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Time budget and walking distance as the crow
flies
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Factors influencing walking speed

• Personal characteristics
• Walking for purpose (e.g. commute)
• Walking with children
• Shoe type
• Interacting with the environment
• Cell phone
• Listening to music
• Age
• Gender
• Baggage
• Environmental characteristics
• Gradient

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Method Measuring walking speed

• 13 walking sites selected to differ by
• Geographic location
• Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Levin
• Gradient
• Commuter flow traffic
• Variety of pedestrians
• Measured walking speed on video
• Time taken to travel 5m

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Methodology of Observations
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Description of selected sites
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Walker characteristics and walking speed
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Location characteristics and walking speed
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(No Transcript)
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Population and walking speed
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Population and walking speed
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Key findings

• There is no simple relationship between city
  population and walking speed
• New Zealanders are faster walkers than overseas
  sites
• Counterintuitive finding that walking speeds were
  faster uphill compared with walking on flat
  surfaces
• People in Levin and Palmerston North walk faster
  than those in Auckland.why?

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Conclusions

• The key to it all is to ask who walks?
• Are walking speeds are an indicator of
  walkability?
• A key measure of performance/LOS can be the
  alignment of observed mean walking speed with the
  mean walking speed of the general population

What would happen to observed walking speeds if
Segways were widespread?